Carly Pearce
opens
Hummingbird
by claiming that "Country Music Made Me Do It," providing a de facto keynote for a record where the singer/songwriter discovers sustenance through a full embrace of traditional country music. Make no mistake,
Pearce
isn't abandoning the country mainstream for the dusty byways of Americana, nor is her emphasis on clean, uncluttered arrangements and sprightly storytelling unexpected. Elements of
Loretta Lynn
and
Dolly Parton
could be heard throughout
's previous three albums; the difference with
is she's pushing this sound to the forefront, opting to sound "timeless" instead of "contemporary." The shift in direction could be due to
needing a change of pace after the heavy lifting of
29: Written in Stone
, the 2021 album that found the singer/songwriter exorcising the demons left lingering after a painful divorce. While
may not contain the gleaming sheen of
, it's pointedly lighter emotionally, particularly in its first half when she offers a bit of a renegade strut on "Truck on Fire" and scoots through "Still Blue." The record gets softer and introspective in its back half, culminating with the tender title track, yet even in this stretch she finds space for the spry "Woman to Woman" and classic barroom anthem "Fault Line." With its playful puns, "Fault Line" illustrates one of
's great strengths: she hones in on turns of phrase and narratives that should be country tropes but aren't.
's ability to feel familiar and fresh gives
its deep resonance, a trick that does indeed make the album feel timeless. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine